THE REALITIES ABOUT MARIJUANA LAW

I understand that this vote will reinforce what already is the case,
but it is clear that under Ravin, as restated this year, personal
marijuana possession and cultivation is already legal in Alaska. That
would be possession of four ounces and cultivation of up to 25 plants.
I find it odd this was not mentioned in your article. I suspect it is
because it is a reality many power brokers and gatekeepers find hard
to accept. Some seem to think if you stick your head in the sand long
enough, reality will just flitter away.

There are many of us who know for a fact Ravin always was the law in
Alaska - you cannot supersede a right with a legislative action or a
referendum. Yet your drug warriors refused to appeal any case far
enough to establish this obvious fact for over a decade, until this
year. Even if this referendum fails, it will not matter. Alaskans have
a high expectation of privacy and marijuana use does not justify
invading that privacy. That is the way it will stay, notwithstanding
your attorney general's promise to spout propaganda and super-potent
marijuana being dangerous. There were hash products measuring up to 50
percent THC when Ravin was written; nothing meaningful has changed
since 1975.

Matthew Hulett

Brick, N.J.